Printing devices that print images by forming dots on a print medium are in widespread use. Some such printing devices employ an interlaced printing method known in the art in which dots are formed on adjacent main scanning lines in different main scans. Using interlaced printing, a printing device can print at a higher resolution, whereby the pitch of dots in the sub-scanning direction (the line spacing of adjacent main scanning lines) is smaller than the nozzle pitch in the sub-scanning direction. There is also a well-known technique for reducing banding and other defects in image quality by forming dots in the same main scanning line using a plurality of main scans (hereinafter also referred to as “shingling”).
In another technique known in the art, a storage unit storing information on a suitable method of shingling is mounted in the core of roll paper. Before printing on the roll paper according to a shingling method, the printing device reads this information from the storage unit to determine the method of shingling best suited to this type of roll paper. Consequently, the printing device can perform shingling that is best suited to the type of paper being used by varying the number of main scans used to form dots in each main scanning line based on the type of paper, for example.